Current food obsessions

I made some delicious Italian navy bean soup in the Crock-Pot on Wednesday, which I'll be posting about either tonight or tomorrow. Yes there will be photos. Prepare to drool a little.

In the mean time, I want to talk about a few of my recent food obsessions. Hopefully, you'll find a few things on this list to obsess over too!

1. Cardamom

Cardamom comes in either pod form or ground. Like most spices, it loses its flavor quickly when ground, so if you buy ground, use it fast. It's most often used in Indian, Middle Eastern, and some African foods - but is often common in Scandavian baked goods. It's a key ingredient in chai tea and has a pungent, aromatic flavor. I think it tastes like Christmas. My friend Leena makes all sorts of lovely Indian sweets with cardamom, which seem decadently exotic to my white-bread midwest American tastebuds.

2. Crock-Pots
Starting in October, I use my 5 quart Crock-pot slow cooker at least once a week. Coming home to warm, fragrant deliciousness ready and waiting for my dinner is like a little slice of nirvana after a cold, dark, Chicago winter commute home. My next post will be about soup, and I'll save my Claire's Kitchen slow-cooking tips for then, but suffice it to say that once you've gone homemade, you'll loathe going back to canned soup. Not the same!

3. King Arthur Flour
Just a disclaimer: King Arthur flour is more expensive than grocery store flour. It is a superior product, though. Chewier breads, lighter cakes, flakier pasteries, etc., etc. However, even if you decide not to purchase their baking products, you can still go to the King Arthur website and find hundreds of baking recipes, along with user reviews. I get their catalog, which has additional recipes, products, and baking gadgets. I pore over it and fantasize about life as a pastery chef or a baker. Then I talk to actual pastery chefs and bakers, which makes me glad I work in an office and only bake on the weekends or when I feel like it.

Well these are just a few things I've been thinking about incessantly over the past few weeks. Feel free to drop me a comment about your food obsessions!